Department for Transport

Cycling and Walking

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications he has received from local authorities for funding to implement their Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan; and how many of those applications were (a) successful and received the funding in full and (b) unsuccessful.

Jesse Norman: Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs) are not applications for funding. Rather, they are designed to help local authorities to develop and decide on local priorities for investment for cycling and walking infrastructure from all relevant local funding streams, and from national streams such as the Transforming Cities Fund, Future High Streets Fund, Housing Infrastructure Fund and Clean Air Fund. The Department is providing technical support on LCWIPS to 46 local authorities.

Railways: Bicycles

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2018 to Question 172553 on Railways: Bicycles,(a) what constitutes a specific need for cycle storage space on trains and (b) how may passengers communicate their need for cycle storage space to the his Department.

Andrew Jones: The decision to require cycle storage space on trains is led by stakeholder feedback, on the range of passenger needs, following franchise competition consultation. The Department does not hold figures to this level of detail on individual requests for bicycle storage.

Highways England: Air Pollution

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the Highways England Air Quality Fund was spent up to November 2018; and how much is planned to be spent in (a) 2018-19 and (b) 2019-20.

Jesse Norman: Since the start of the first Road Investment Period in April 2015 and up to November 2018, £2.82 million of Highways England’s ring-fenced Air Quality Designated Fund has been invested. In 2018 – 19, Highways England anticipates spending £8.6 million of this fund. Investment plans for 2019 – 20, including support to the Government’s National Air Quality Plan, are still under development. The indicative forecast is £54 million currently.

Cross Country Railway Line: Overcrowding

Martin Whitfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with the Cross Country train-operating company on overcrowding on its services; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones: My officials meet regularly with Cross Country to discuss a range of issues including crowding on trains. Currently, there is no suitable rolling stock available that could be used on this franchise to alleviate the services which suffer overcrowding. We are, however, working with Cross Country to see what other opportunities might exist to reduce overcrowding.

Electric Vehicles

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase the affordability of electric cars.

Jesse Norman: The Government has vehicle grant funding schemes to assist with the upfront cost of purchasing electric cars, vans, taxis and motorcycles, as well as e-cargo bikes in due course. The development of the used market for electric vehicles will also make them more affordable for more people. Owners of both new and used electric vehicles are able to take advantage of tax incentives which favour the least emitting vehicles. In addition, they can also benefit from local initiatives, such as free parking in some areas, as well as the Government’s infrastructure grant schemes, such as the Electric Vehicle Homecharge and Work Place Charging Schemes. Further technology innovation should also bring the price of ultra low emission vehicles down in the long term. The Office for Low Emission Vehicles has awarded over £300m to support a range of industry led R&D projects that have driven forward ultra low emission technologies and strengthened UK industrial and supply chain capability.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Fuel Poverty

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information he holds on local authority spending plans to reduce fuel poverty over the next (a) five and 10 years.

Claire Perry: The Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 (HECA) requires local authorities to prepare and publish reports every two years on their plans to achieve improved energy efficiency in their areas. These are not spending plans, but contain actions, policies, initiatives, grants, match funding and other measures offered in the local authority that encourage home energy efficiency improvements and tackle fuel poverty. Local authorities were last required to report in 2017, and their full reports are available on their websites. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will be issuing guidance to local authorities on the content of their 2019 reports shortly.Under the Energy Company Obligation local authorities are able to refer low income and vulnerable households for receipt of energy efficiency measures under ‘flexible eligibility’. Obligated energy suppliers can deliver up to 25% of their obligation by installing measures under this mechanism, which could be worth around £560m between now and March 2022.

Life Sciences

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish the updated Life Sciences Sector Deal.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Life Sciences: Small Businesses

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what provisions his Department has included within the updated Life Sciences Sector Deal to support the growth of small businesses.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Government Departments: Iron and Steel

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department will publish data on Government steel use and compliance with procurement policy.

Richard Harrington: This data will be published in due course.

Scottish Limited Partnerships: Ownership

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many fines have been levied against Scottish limited partnerships for failing to register a person of significant control.

Kelly Tolhurst: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Scottish Limited Partnerships: Ownership

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of Scottish limited partnerships that are qualifying under the terms of the Scottish Partnerships (Register of People with Significant Control) Regulations 2017 and the Companies and Partnerships (Accounts and Audit) Regulations 2013.

Kelly Tolhurst: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Limited Liability: Reviews

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish a response to his Department's consultation on the review of limited partnership law.

Kelly Tolhurst: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Employment: Pastoral Care

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to support employers in the provision of pastoral care programmes.

Kelly Tolhurst: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Technology and Innovation Centres: Staff

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of the workforce at the Catapult centres is (a) female, (b) BAME and (c) disabled.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Consumers

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to respond to the Green Paper on modernising consumer markets.

Kelly Tolhurst: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Wildlife: Smuggling

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many nations have now signed up to the London Declaration from the International Wildlife Trade Conference 2018; and what assessment he has made of the implications of that number for the endangered species trade.

Mark Field: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 12 November 2018.The correct answer should have been:

57 countries have adopted the London 2018 Declaration committing to action to protect endangered species around the globe, with more expected to sign. This important pledge of international action reflects the success of the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in London in October, which was attended by more than 70 countries and more than 400 organisations. The conference focused the minds of international governments on the issue and energized global cooperation to fight the illegal wildlife trade. We will continue to work with our international partners to make progress on commitments pledged at the event.We do not have direct information on the likely impact that action by the 57 countries who adopted the London 2018 Declaration will have on endangered species, but the growing number of signatories signifies growing global ambition to funding tackling the illegal wildlife trade, which will increase the protection for endagered endangered species.

Mark Field: 57 countries have adopted the London 2018 Declaration committing to action to protect endangered species around the globe, with more expected to sign. This important pledge of international action reflects the success of the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in London in October, which was attended by more than 70 countries and more than 400 organisations. The conference focused the minds of international governments on the issue and energized global cooperation to fight the illegal wildlife trade. We will continue to work with our international partners to make progress on commitments pledged at the event.We do not have direct information on the likely impact that action by the 57 countries who adopted the London 2018 Declaration will have on endangered species, but the growing number of signatories signifies growing global ambition to funding tackling the illegal wildlife trade, which will increase the protection for endagered endangered species.

Libya: Politics and Government

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the security situation in Sabratha.

Alistair Burt: The recent violence in Sabratha is deeply concerning. There has been some progress in recent weeks in establishing a Security Arrangements Committee for Tripoli, in order to avoid a repeat of the violence the capital experienced over the summer. The fighting in Sabratha highlights the challenges that exist beyond Tripoli, and the need for more sustainable security arrangements across the whole of Libya. The UK is clear that the only way of achieving security and stability is through an inclusive political settlement. The recent Palermo Conference demonstrated broad support for the next steps in implementing the UN Action Plan, as set out by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General Salamé in his 8 November briefing to the UN Security Council. This includes the convening of a National Conference in early 2019, with a view to creating the conditions for elections in the course of 2019. The UK remains actively engaged in efforts to promote the UN-led political process and has allocated £12 million through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund this year to boost political participation and economic development, and to support the delivery of greater security, stability and resilience, including through tackling extremism.

Israel: 
Palestinians

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps the Government has taken to end armed conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Alistair Burt: ​At this highly sensitive time in the region, there is an urgent need to restart the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. After the recent outbreak of violence, I called for everyone to step back from the brink and to avoid escalating the situation further. We continue to urge restraint from all parties and welcome the return to calm in recent days. We strongly support the mediation efforts of the international community led by Egypt and the UN and urge continued talks aimed at finding an enduring peace in Gaza under the control of the Palestinian Authority. We regularly press both parties to resume direct negotiations towards a two-state solution. I last discussed the Middle East Peace Process with the Israeli Ambassador to the UK on 11 October.

Syria: Conflict, Stability and Security Fund

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether funding from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund has been used in financial years (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19 to support activities in areas of Syria controlled by the Ha’yat Tahrir Al-Sham militia.

Alistair Burt: ​Conflict, Stability and Security Fund programmes run by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in Syria, in the financial years (2016-2019), have been specifically designed not to operate in areas controlled by Ha'yat Tahrir Al-Sham. The FCO has robust controls in place to ensure UK funds are used for their intended purpose.

Syria: Conflict, Stability and Security Fund

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will ask the National Audit Office to investigate whether funding from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund has been diverted in financial years (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19 to support the activities of the Ha’yat Tahrir Al-Sham militia.

Alistair Burt: ​I have no plans to ask the National Audit Office to investigate whether funding from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) has been diverted to the Ha'yat Tahrir Al-Sham militia. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), has robust controls in place to ensure UK funds are used for their intended purpose. This includes in the context of Syria. If we receive credible allegations of co-operation or collusion with extremist groups, support is suspended immediately and the programme is subject to an investigation. The National Audit Office has already audited and signed-off on the FCO's accounts for 2016-17 and 2017-18 (the 2018-19 financial year is ongoing). This has included consideration of CSSF spend.

Yemen: Peace Negotiations

Victoria Prentis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the UN Special Envoy's efforts to get parties to the Yemen conflict to agree to a cessation of hostilities.

Alistair Burt: On Monday 19 November, the UK circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities, steps to improve the humanitarian situation, and support for the work of the UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths.

Burma: International Criminal Court

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps are being taken to respond to the recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar on referrals to the International Criminal Court.

Mark Field: The Foreign Secretary has made clear that referring the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court (ICC) is an option the UN Security Council (UNSC) should consider. The UK ensured the Head of the UN Fact Finding Mission was able to brief the UNSC on 24 October to inform the Council's discussions. However, our assessment remains that there is insufficient support amongst Security Council members for an ICC referral at this time. It will not advance the cause of accountability for an ICC referral to fail to win Security Council support or to be vetoed; such a result would only give comfort to the Burmese military and reduce the pressure they currently face.

Burma: Sexual Offences

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to collect evidence of sexual violence in Kachin and Shan States in Myanmar.

Mark Field: The Government does not collect evidence of sexual violence. The UK has a Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) Team of Experts, made up of independent experts who can be deployed to build the capacity of others, including governments and the UN to collect such evidence. In March 2017 the UK co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council Resolution which set up a UN Fact Finding Mission (FFM) to establish the facts and circumstances of human rights violations by military and security forces, and abuses, in Burma. Despite repeated calls from the UK and international partners, the Burmese authorities refused to grant the FFM access to Burma.

Burma: Peace Negotiations

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of progress of the peace process in Myanmar.

Mark Field: Our Ambassador attended the most recent Panglong Peace Conference in July 2018 and met with a range of parties to the National Ceasefire Agreement. He discussed the peace process with Burma's Minister of the Office of State Counsellor on 9 August. Government, military and parliamentary leaders met the leaders of the ten Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement-signatory ethnic armed organizations on 15 and 16 October, ahead of the next Panglong Peace conference. The UK will sustain its support for negotiations towards a peace settlement whilst ensuring the Burmese military understand that their conduct will continue to come under international scrutiny.

Gibraltar: Sovereignty

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions the Government has had with the Government of Spain on the future of Gibraltar during the negotiations on leaving the EU.

Sir Alan Duncan: Since June 2016, the British Government has engaged constructively with our European partners to address the practical implications for Gibraltar arising from EU exit, including for the more than 8,000 Spanish frontier workers crossing into Gibraltar daily. As the Prime Minister reiterated in the House of Commons on 21 November, the UK has fully involved the Government of Gibraltar throughout. Our commitment to Gibraltar’s sovereignty, its people and its economy remains absolute, including in any discussions regarding the future.​

Eritrea: Religious Freedom

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the level of religious freedom and tolerance in Eritrea.

Harriett Baldwin: ​The overwhelming majority of people in Eritrea can practise their religion peacefully and are allowed to do so. However, the detention of individuals and groups from proscribed religious groups, and senior individuals from religious organisations, is of concern. The UK regularly raises this matter at UN Human Rights Council dialogues on Eritrea.

Northern Ireland Office

Brexit: Northern Ireland

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions she has had with the Irish Foreign Secretary on the potential effects on Northern Ireland of the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

John Penrose: The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has regular meetings with the Tánaiste on a number of issues relating to Northern Ireland, in accordance with the well-established three stranded approach.

Service Industries: Northern Ireland

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether her Department has had any meetings with the hospitality sector in Northern Ireland.

John Penrose: The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland regularly meets representatives from across all Northern Ireland business sectors.

Attorney General

Attorney General: Billing

Jon Trickett: To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of contracts issued by his Department and contractors include provisions to impose, as between parties to the subcontract, that any payment due from the contractor to a subcontractor under the contract is to be made no later than the end of a period of 30 days from the date on which the relevant invoice is regarded as valid and undisputed, as required by the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

Robert Buckland: Wherever possible the Attorney General’s Office and the Law Officers Departments (the Crown Prosecution Service, the Serious Fraud Office, The Government Legal Department and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate) let contracts over £10,000 using call-off contracts from frameworks procured by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS). These frameworks include provision for payments to sub-contractors within 30 days of receipt of undisputed invoice.Central records are not held for procurements partially, or fully, managed outside the procurement service. To confirm that these contracts include provisions for prompt payment of sub-contractor invoices would require a manual check of all procurement records, which would incur a disproportionate cost.

Wales Office

UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Wales

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales,  pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 191441 on UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Wales, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effect on the Welsh economy and regional development of a lower level of Shared Prosperity Fund funding than that received under the European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund in Wales.

Alun Cairns: Future decisions on funding will form part of the 2019 Spending Review, but in the meantime the draft Withdrawal Agreement states that the UK would continue to participate in 2014-2020 programmes until they close. Further, due to the Government’s guarantee for EU-funded programmes, UK organisations, including those in Wales, will receive funding in the unlikely event that the Withdrawal Agreement is not ratified. The UK’s exit from the EU provides us with an opportunity to reconsider how funding for growth across the UK is designed and delivered. Our manifesto committed to creating a UK Shared Prosperity Fund, of which the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government published further details in a Written Ministerial Statement on 24 July.

EU Grants and Loans: Wales

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 191441, whether he has estimated the current level of funding that Wales receives from the European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund, Horizon 2020, Rural Development Funding and the Wales-Ireland Co-operation scheme.

Alun Cairns: The current UK Partnership Agreement for 2014-2020 European Structural Investment Funds programmes was approved by the EU in February 2018. For Wales, the European Regional Development Fund amount is €1,409,422,319, for European Social Fund the amount is €1,007,867,040. The Wales-Ireland Co-operation scheme is a joint funding pot of €79,198,450, available for all Irish and Welsh beneficiaries to drawdown from and is not separated by Member State. From January 2014 to November 2018, entities located in Wales have been awarded Horizon 2020 funding of €102,332,792. For the Common Agricultural Policy funding for 2014-2020, Wales will receive a pillar 1 (direct payment) allocation of around €2,245million, and pillar 2 (rural development) allocation of around €355million.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Wales

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 191441, whether the Government plans to allocate more or less than £2.1 billion from the Shared Prosperity Fund to Wales between 2021 and 2027.

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 191441, whether those specific priorities will differ from the priorities that have informed the allocation of funding from the European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund in Wales.

Alun Cairns: Future decisions on funding will form part of the 2019 Spending Review.

EU Grants and Loans: Wales

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 191441, whether those amounts are lower or higher than the amount that those areas have received in the same period from the European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund.

Alun Cairns: Examples of where the Industrial Strategy is already delivering for Wales are in addition to EU funding.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Wales

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent bilateral meetings he has had with (a) the Welsh First Minister, (b) other Welsh Cabinet Ministers and (c) UK Government Cabinet Ministers on ensuring that the proposed Shared Prosperity Fund respects devolution settlements.

Alun Cairns: The Wales Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Education

Special Educational Needs

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will increase funding for the expansion of special school provision.

Nadhim Zahawi: The government has allocated £265 million to help local authorities create new school places and improve existing facilities for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), in consultation with parents and providers. Many local authorities are using this to expand special schools or SEND units in mainstream schools. Individual local authorities’ allocations are published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-provision-capital-funding-for-pupils-with-ehc-plans. This funding is for 2018 to 2021. Funding after 2021 will be determined via the Spending Review. The government also establishes new special schools through the free schools programme. As of 1 November 2018 there were 34 open special free schools with a further 55 in the pipeline.

Arts: Apprentices

Mr John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeship starts there have been in the creative industries since the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy.

Anne Milton: There is no definition of apprenticeships that are in the creative industries.The attached table shows apprenticeship starts in the arts, media and publishing sector subject area, along with further subject area breakdowns since the introduction of the levy. It includes starts up to the provisional full 2017/18 academic year. 



191285_Apprenticeship_starts since _May_2017_in _t
(Word Document, 55.5 KB)

Special Educational Needs: Universities

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to universities for students with special educational needs.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Widening participation to higher education is a priority for this government. We want everyone with the capability to succeed in higher education to have the opportunity to benefit from a university education, regardless of their background or where they grew up.In our first guidance to the Office for Students (OfS), we identified certain target groups, including students with specific learning needs or disabilities, as we recognise that they require specific support for accessing and succeeding in higher education. Through access agreements (now known as access and participation plans), which have been agreed with the OfS, higher education providers are expected to reduce the gaps in access, success and progression for under-represented groups amongst their students.Through the access and participation plans for the period of 2018 to 2019, universities and further education colleges plan to spend more than £860 million on measures to improve access and student success for students from under-represented groups and disadvantaged backgrounds. This amount has significantly increased from the planned expenditure of £404 million in 2009.Prior attainment is a critical factor and we are asking higher education providers to take on a more direct role in helping to raise attainment in schools as part of their outreach activity. We expect all universities to help raise attainment and support school improvement, including through school sponsorship and establishing new state schools.

Religion: Education

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to introduce a national entitlement to the study of religious education in schools.

Nick Gibb: The Department has received the Commission on Religious Education’s review report, which includes its recommendation for introduction of a statutory national entitlement to the study of religious education and worldviews. This is under consideration, and the Department will make its views known soon.

Religion: Education

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that state-funded schools meet the statutory obligation to teach religious education as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.

Nick Gibb: It is the responsibility of individual schools to ensure that they meet their statutory obligations to teach religious education.If an individual has concerns that a school may not be meeting its duty to provide religious education, they should first follow that school’s complaint procedure. If the complaint is not resolved, then the issue can be escalated to the Department’s School Complaints Unit for maintained schools, or the Education and Skills Funding Agency for academies, free schools, university technical colleges or studio schools. Information about school complaint procedures can be found here: www.gov.uk/complain-about-school. The Secretary of State for Education has a range of powers to ensure schools comply with their statutory obligations. The exact powers used will depend on the nature of the statutory duty in question and the potential impact of any failure to comply. The powers used could include a direction under 497 of the Education Act 1996, a performance and standards warning notice under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and a referral to Ofsted for an inspection. Where academies are subject to the same statutory duties as maintained schools, the Secretary of State has powers to enforce compliance via the terms of the funding agreement.

Teaching Excellence Framework Independent Review

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Written Statement of 19 November 2018 on TEF reviewer appointment, HLWS1060, what provision will be made for students to give evidence to the review.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he intends to propose to the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) reviewer that there should be student representation on the advisory group that will be set up for the review of the TEF.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Dame Shirley Pearce is very keen to hear the views of students in the review of the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework. She will engage with as many students as possible during the review both by encouraging students to respond to the public consultation and by finding a range of other ways to hear the views of students. Dame Shirley will shortly be announcing the membership of the group that she is establishing to advise her. This group will include a student representative.

Nurses: Training

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with colleagues in the Department of Health on expanding the number of higher education nursing programmes covering learning disability and mental health nursing.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Secretary of State for Education has not had discussions specifically covering learning disability and mental health nursing programmes expansion. However, nursing continues to be a priority area for investment. The Department for Education and the Department for Health and Social Care are working with Health Education England on a campaign to improve perceptions of nursing, the allied health professions and midwifery and encourage applications to relevant undergraduate courses.

Ministry of Justice

Courts: Closures

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of exiting leases, including dilapidation costs, as a result of the closure of (a) magistrate's courts, (b) county courts and (c) tribunal centres since 2010.

Lucy Frazer: Cost of exiting leases for financial year 2015/16 to October 2018County courts£609,000Magistrates' courts£4,400Tribunals£1,389,633Total£2,003,033  Due to changes in finance systems, the information requested relating to lease exiting costs for the financial years 2010/11 to 2014/15 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Lease dilapidations costs for financial year 2010/11 to October 2018County courts£1,717,401Magistrates' courts£244,698Tribunals£1,653,291Total£3,615,390

Courts: Closures

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2018 to Question 131222 on Courts: Closures, which courts closed since 2010 have yet to be sold; and what the annual maintenance costs have been of each of those court premises.

Lucy Frazer: Of the courts that have closed since 2010, the following have yet to be sold or disposed of, with annual maintenance costs since their closure set out below:Court  2018/19*  2017/18  2016/17  2015/16 Abergavenny Magistrates’ Court3,2326,3156,0071,907Alton Magistrates’ Court3,0736,2735,963575Birmingham Youth Court15,2956,359--Brecon Magistrates’ Court-10,5672,697-Caerphilly Magistrates’ Court-5,45412,189-Chichester Magistrates’ Court2,9708,247--Chippenham Magistrates’ Court10,6846,267--Lyndhurst Magistrates’ Court1,8213,2542,673556Oswestry Magistrates’ Court2,32029,6033,2351,012Runcorn Magistrates’ Court-270--Sheffield Employment Tribunal3,9094,203--Southampton Combined Court10,75012,5516,099-Telford County Court10,41811,378--Torquay Magistrates’ Court4,232---  *to Oct 18   Information relating to annual maintenance costs for the period prior to the 2015/16 financial year could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Forensic Science: Misconduct

Louise Haigh: To ask the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Written Statement of 27 November 2017 on Toxicology, HCWS265, how many people have subsequently been (a) released from prison and (b) had a conviction quashed as a result of the discovery of the manipulation of testing results.

Lucy Frazer: The re-testing of toxicology samples is ongoing and the police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are working to identify the exact numbers and impact upon cases affected by re-testing. Figures as to the number of convictions quashed cannot be provided at this time. We are not aware of anyone having been released from prison as a result of toxicology re-testing.

Prisoners: Childbirth

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners gave birth in prison without a midwife present in the last year for which information is available.

Edward Argar: The information is not centrally held and could obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, all pregnant women in custody have an individual care and management plan that is communicated to all staff and all pregnant women are seen by a mid-wife at least fortnightly or as required. Healthcare in prisons is provided by trained medics and nurses, but we have also made training on dealing with pregnant women available to all prison officers. We know it is extremely rare for a woman to give birth in prison - because every step is taken to get them to hospital - but those unique cases are invariably down to the unpredictability of labour. Our new Female Offenders Strategy made clear that we want fewer women serving short sentences in custody and more remaining in the community, making use of women’s centres to address needs such as substance misuse and mental health problems.

Women's Centres: Finance

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 November 2018 to Question 187366, how many places in residential women's centres were funded by the Government in 2016.

Edward Argar: As I said in the answer to 187366, our vision of residential women’s centres is new we are not aware of any past or existing provision which fully accords with it. We therefore did not fund any places in residential women’s centres in 2016.The Government is looking to develop a residential women’s centre pilot in at least five sites across England and Wales as part of its commitments within the female offender strategy.The aim of the pilot will be to develop a robust evidence base about what could be effective, sustainable and scalable models for improving outcomes for female offenders and reducing the numbers and frequency of women entering and re-entering custody on short custodial sentences.We will take a consultative approach for designing and delivering the pilot models, engaging with potential providers, partners, and investors, both nationally and locally. We want to ensure that the models we take forward are sustainable, credible and appropriate for the local context of each site.

Community Rehabilitation Companies: Staff

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of trends in staffing levels in community rehabilitation centres from their introduction until the end of the 2016-17 financial year.

Rory Stewart: Public protection is our top priority and the contracts contain robust provisions requiring each Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) to ensure that it employs a sufficient level of staff to deliver their contractual obligations. We are taking decisive action to improve CRCs by ending current contracts early, investing £22m in through the gate services, and we have consulted on how best to deliver probation services in the future. We have also recently changed CRC contracts to improve reporting on workforce trends and will use this information to inform contract management activity. Our Contract Management Teams closely monitor and robustly manage providers on a local basis, taking into account the regional context, to make sure they fulfil their contractual commitments to reduce reoffending, protect the public and provide value for money to the taxpayer.

Dangerous Driving: Sentencing

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Life sentences for killer drivers published on 15 October 2017, what the timetable is for the introduction of changes in sentences for causing death by dangerous or careless driving.

Edward Argar: In the response to the consultation on driving offences and penalties relating to causing death or serious injury, published in 2017, the government proposed to increase the maximum penalties for causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs from 14 years’ imprisonment to life. The government is committed to making sure that the courts have sufficient powers to deal with driving offences appropriately and proportionately. We will bring forward proposals for changes in the law as soon as parliamentary time allows. These proposals will take account of, and incorporate, all of government’s proposals for safer roads, including any arising from the Department of Transport’s review of cycle safety.

Debt Collection

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the Government plans to issue the call for evidence as part of the review into rogue bailiffs announced on 2 April 2018.

Lucy Frazer: The Government intends to launch a call for evidence of the enforcement agent reforms before the end of year.

Domestic Violence: Prosecutions

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions there have been under section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015.

Edward Argar: Figures on the number of defendants prosecuted under section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 can be found in the ‘Outcomes by Offence data tool’, available at:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/733981/outcomes-by-offence-tool-2017-update.xlsx Search ‘Offence’ for ‘8.21 - Engage in controlling/coercive behaviour in an intimate/family relationship.

Trials

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of defences made using section 76(8) of the Serious Crime Act 2015 within criminal trials have been successful.

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of prosecutions made under Section 76 of the Serious Crime Act (2015) which involved a disabled survivor of abuse giving evidence.

Edward Argar: The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Department for International Trade

Economic Partnership Agreements

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to paragraph 10 of the draft explanatory memorandum to the Draft European Union (Definition of Treaties) (Economic Partnership Agreements and Trade Agreement) (Eastern and Southern Africa States, Southern African Development Community States, Ghana and Ecuador) Order 2018 published in July 2018, what assessment he has made of criticisms of economic partnership agreements.

George Hollingbery: Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are development-focused trade agreements which aim to promote increased trade and investment and thereby contribute to sustainable development and poverty reduction. I am satisfied that criticism raised during the negotiation of the EPAs is addressed in the agreements. For example, concerns about potential impact of competition with EU goods is addressed in various ways, including the provision of a wide range of safeguards to protect African domestic products for fledgling industries or for food security.

Cameroon: Arms Trade

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether his Department plans to review arms sales to the Government of Cameroon.

Graham Stuart: The Government takes its export control responsibilities extremely seriously. The UK operates one of the most thorough and robust export control systems in the world. The Government will not grant export licences where to do so would be inconsistent with the Consolidated EU and National Arms Exports Licensing Criteria, which include an assessment of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the country of final destination.Extant licenses can be revoked at any time if the situation changes in Cameroon. The policy remains as announced to parliament in a Written Ministerial Statement on 25 March 2014: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140325/wmstext/140325m0001.htm#140325660000

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Loneliness

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to incorporate the Government's new loneliness strategy into its policy formulation process.

Rishi Sunak: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is one of nine Government departments contributing to the cross-government work on loneliness. ‘A connected society: a strategy for tackling loneliness - laying the foundations for change’, sets out the Department’s commitment to tackling loneliness across a range of areas, including funding research into the impact of community-led housing and cohousing solutions on loneliness and working with the Local Government Association (LGA) and National Association of Local Councils (NALC) to explore an effective means of sharing learning and good practice.The loneliness strategy takes action on the Jo Cox Commission’s recommendation for a family test: it requires government departments to report on their work on tackling loneliness in their annual Single Departmental Plans from 2019/20 and commits to including loneliness in the guidance for the Family Test.The Inter-Ministerial Group on Loneliness will be continuing to explore additional options to ensure social relationships are considered across Government’s wider policy-making. The Ministerial Group will publish an annual progress report on the loneliness agenda, recognising that this is just the start of government’s work on this issue.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Shared Prosperity Fund will fund (a) capital interventions and (b) revenue interventions.

Jake Berry: The composition of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will be decided at next year’s Spending Review. Decisions will be informed by a consultation, which will give all interested parties an opportunity to convey their views directly to Government.

Ministry of Defence

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans of Operation Herrick have died by suicide (a) whilst serving and (b) after leaving the Army.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Government takes the welfare of Service personnel and veterans very seriously. As in society as a whole, the Armed Forces will never be able to eradicate the incidence of suicide, however we are not complacent; any suicide is one too many and a tragedy for the individual. As at 1 February 2018, there have been 29 coroner-confirmed suicide and open verdict deaths to UK Army Service personnel, whilst serving, who had previously deployed to Operation HERRICK (Afghanistan). In addition, there were three coroner-confirmed suicide and open verdict deaths to UK Army Service personnel whilst deployed on Operation HERRICK. Suicide data for veterans of the UK Armed Forces is not currently captured by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). However, the MOD has commissioned a new study to investigate causes of death, including suicide, amongst all those who served in the UK Armed Forces between 2001 and 2014, covering combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This will include Army personnel who are still in service, and Army personnel who have now transitioned into civilian life.https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-study-into-iraq-and-afghanistan-veterans-launched Every study conducted by the MOD has found that the risk of suicide amongst the Armed Forces community is lower than amongst the general population. The UK Regular Armed Forces male rate of suicide for 2017 was 8 per 100,000. In contrast, the UK general population male rate in 2016 was 19 per 100,000. The UK Regular Armed Forces have seen a declining trend in male suicide rates since the 1990s. Suicide remains a rare event, evidenced by the small number of deaths in each year.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps the Government is taking to support veterans of Operation Herrick.

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Government plans to introduce further measures to support veterans of Operation Herrick.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Operation Herrick finished in 2014, so many veterans of the campaign will still be serving. All Armed Forces personnel are supported by dedicated and comprehensive medical services, including mental health support. Current Service personnel are provided with pre- and post-operational stress management training, psychiatric and psychological treatments, and initiatives such as Trauma Risk Incident Management (TRiM - peer to peer support after a traumatic incident). The Ministry of Defence announced in October 2017 a new partnership with the Royal Foundation which will provide resources for training and education for the Armed Forces Community around good Mental Fitness. Further measures introduced to support Armed Forces personnel include a new 24-hour mental health helpline targeted at serving personnel and their families allowing them to access support for any mental health problems anytime, anywhere. For those who took part in Operation Herrick, but have left Service, the NHS in England and the Devolved Administrations are responsible for healthcare, including mental healthcare, for veterans. Veterans’ health is broadly aligned with that of the rest of the general population and most veterans’ health requirements are sufficiently met by existing NHS provision. However, several tailored initiatives are already in place to cater for specific veteran needs, including priority access to NHS secondary care in England, Scotland and Wales for Service related conditions, subject to the clinical need of all patients. Further measures to improve support to veterans include the recently announced Veterans Strategy: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/strategy-for-our-veterans. By 2028 we will be doing more to ensure that each veteran is valued, contributing and supported. One of our aims is that all veterans enjoy a state of positive physical and mental health and wellbeing, enabling them to contribute to wider aspects of society. In order to achieve this outcome, we will focus our efforts on enabling consistency of medical outcomes for veterans, through a smooth transition of provision from in-Service to post-Service and sharing effective practices amongst clinical and healthcare communities; and providing bespoke treatment for those veterans who have specific health needs because of their service.

Ministry of Defence: Females

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of women employed by his Department in each year since 2000.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 9 November 2018, to Question 186363.



186363 - Ministry of Defence Females
(Word Document, 23.55 KB)

Ministry of Defence: Government Responses

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to respond to Question 188038, tabled on 5 November 2018, by the hon. Member for East Londonderry.

Mark Lancaster: Information regarding Army bomb disposal callouts between 2012-2018 can be found in the tables below. Following a review of data held by the Army, this also updates figures previously supplied in response to Questions 179144 and 179145: 1 July 2012 – 30 June 2014LOCATIONTASKS*IED DECLARATIONHOAX DECLRATIONGB11310352NI**273134178UK total386237230 1 July 2014 – 30 June 2016LOCATIONTASKS*IED DECLARATIONHOAX DECLRATIONGB1207840NI**1448383UK total264161123 1 July 2016 – 30 June 2018LOCATIONTASKS*IED DECLARATIONHOAX DECLRATIONGB120589***44NI**944849UK total21462793 * ‘Tasks’ refers to IED callouts (any task that may subsequently be classified by declaration as a Find, False, Hoax, IED, Explosion or Search Assist). This does not include callouts for incidents involving other items such as Conventional Munitions Disposal.** All incidents requiring explosive ordnance disposal experts in Northern Ireland are dealt with solely by military personnel.*** The high number of IED declarations between 1 July 2016 – 30 June 2018 is due to a task that yielded over 300 arrowhead type IEDs.

Armed Forces: Mental Health

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the mental health and wellbeing of serving personnel and veterans.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence works with a range of partners, including the Department of Health and Social Care, to ensure Service personnel and veterans receive the mental health and wellbeing support they need.The Ministerial Covenant and Veterans Board, which includes the Department for Health and Social Care, last met on 5 November.

Department for Work and Pensions

Work Capability Assessment: Mental Illness

Laura Pidcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral evidence of the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work to the Work and Pensions Committee on PIP and ESA assessments on 20  December 2017, HC 340, what steps she has taken to ensure that (a) work capability assessment providers do not ask claimants with mental health problems why they had not carried out their suicidal ideas and (b)  the conduct of assessments does not increase the risk of suicide and self harm among claimants with mental health problems.

Sarah Newton: All healthcare professionals (HCPs) carrying out WCA assessments were given face to face training on exploring self-harm and suicidal ideation in May 2018. The training which was quality assured by the Royal College of Psychiatrists was designed to enhance the skills of HCPs in sensitively exploring self-harm and suicidal ideation.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria the Department provides to its partners to assess non-physical disabilities for clients applying for personal independence payment and disability living allowance.

Sarah Newton: Holding answer received on 19 November 2018



The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) process is designed to treat all claimants fairly and with respect. A core tenet of its design is the principle of equivalence between physical and non-physical conditions in order to accurately determine the level of support a person needs.Health professionals carrying out the assessments have training in multiple and complex conditions such as autism, mental health conditions and learning disabilities.In addition, the Assessment Providers have Mental Health Champions who are experienced professionals with direct and relevant work experience of helping patients with mental health conditions.Detailed information of PIP assessment processes and how claimants with mental health conditions are assessed for PIP can be found in the PIP Assessment Guide:Personal Independence Payment assessment guide for assessment providers - GOV.UK The proportion of PIP recipients with a mental health condition getting the top rates of support is over five times higher compared to Disability Living Allowance (DLA). Child DLA is a benefit for children under the age of 16 who, due to a disability or health condition, have mobility issues and/or require substantially more care, attention & supervision than children their age normally would. Child DLA comprises a Care component and a Mobility component; either or both can be claimed, depending on the child’s overall needs and age.Parents or guardians complete a claim form which requests detailed information about the child and the form is considered by a case manager alongside other evidence such as reports’ from the child’s General Practitioner (GP), consultant and/or school.Case Managers have access to comprehensive medical guidance and advice from qualified Medical Advisers based at the Child DLA centre. In the vast majority of cases no face to face assessment is required.

Job Creation

Mr Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of jobs created in (a) Kettering, (b) Northamptonshire and (c) England since 2010.

Alok Sharma: The Office for National Statistics use the Labour Force Survey and Annual Population Survey to provide estimates of employment nationally and at a sub-national level. For July-September 2018, there were 27.45 million people employed in England. The employment rate was 75.8%, an increase of 5.2 percentage points since the 2010 election. However, trends in employment in Kettering and Northamptonshire are not possible to ascertain robustly, due to small numbers of the people with these characteristics in these survey samples. Figures for the East Midlands region are available. For July-September 2018, there were 2.27 million people employed in the East Midlands region. The employment rate was 75.0%, an increase of 4.1 percentage points since 2010.

Social Security Benefits

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance her Department provides to people in receipt of benefits on managing their personal finances.

Alok Sharma: Work coaches will signpost claimants to additional help from other agencies if they need it, including advice on managing their personal finances. This includes the Money Advice Service that offers a free and independent service to help people make informed choices on all issues to do with money. Universal Credit, which is replacing six legacy benefits, provides an enhanced level of personalised support as people receive tailored support managed through personal work coaches. As part of the Universal Support package Personal Budgeting Support (PBS) is offered to Universal Credit claimants from the outset of their claim. PBS helps claimants as they transition to Universal Credit and adapt to the financial changes that Universal Credit brings, such as managing their money on a monthly basis and paying their bills on time. PBS face to face services are currently offered through Local Authorities via Universal Support delivered locally. From April 2019 Citizens Advice (England and Wales) and Citizens Advice Scotland will take on the responsibility for delivering a strengthened Universal Support service, a move which will ensure a consistent and streamlined service for claimants across the country.

Universal Credit: Self-employed

Giles Watling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government has taken in Budget 2018 to support self-employed people in receipt of universal credit.

Alok Sharma: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question 187028 on 6 November.

Post Office Card Account

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients of disability benefits, including universal credit, with the limited capability for work element receive their payments into a Post Office account.

Sarah Newton: The information requested is not available

Universal Credit

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of support that Citizens Advice will be able to provide to new universal credit claimants in (a) England and (b) Hull.

Alok Sharma: The decision to award directly to Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland is based on their position as a well-known and independent advice organisation. This partnership will ensure we are offering a consistent approach nationally for our most vulnerable customers

Fracking: Lancashire

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any staff of the Health and Safety Executive have visited the Preston New Road shale gas site since the four seismic events of greater than the red light 0.5ML threshold that occurred between 26 October 2018 and 4 November 2018.

Sarah Newton: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) closely scrutinises activity on the Preston New Road site, working with its fellow regulators. HSE visits sites on the basis of identified risk. HSE has made four site visits to the Preston New Road site before hydraulic fracturing commenced, including an inspection of the high-pressure equipment on 3 and 4 October 2018. HSE has not visited the site since 4 November 2018.

Unemployment

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress her Department is making on its policy to make work pay.

Alok Sharma: Universal Credit, which is replacing six legacy benefits, provides a single earnings taper rate to ensure claimants are better off working and working more. DWP’s recently published Universal Credit Full Service Survey found an increase in earnings for those in work and on Universal Credit by an average of £600 per year. Additionally, our Universal Credit employment impact analysis (published in September 2017) found that people on Universal Credit are four percentage points more likely to have been in work than JSA claimants At Autumn Budget 2018, we recently announced a £1000 increase in work allowances from April 2019, which will provide a £630 boost for households with children, and for people with disabilities. To support the transition to Universal Credit for all self-employed people, the Autumn Budget also announced we will be extending the 12-month grace period (the period before the Minimum Income Floor applies) to all gainfully self-employed people, giving claimants time to grow their businesses.

Universal Credit: Automated Credit Transfer

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people making a claim for universal credit do not have a bank account in the most recent period for which figures are available; and how many of those people have received help through universal support to open a bank account.

Alok Sharma: Less than 2% of people receiving Universal Credit did not have a bank account at the point of first payment, as of April 2018, according to departmental data. Those who do not have a bank account can be paid through a Post Office Card Account, or alternatively payments can be made into someone else’s bank account. Payments can also be made using the HM Government Payment Exception Service. We do not collect data on the number of people who received help through Universal Support to open a bank account.

Universal Credit: Housing

Emma Dent Coad: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what representations she has received on the effect of the universal credit minimum income floor on the amount of housing element support self-employed claimants are entitled to compared with their housing benefit entitlement under the legacy benefit system.

Justin Tomlinson: The Minimum Income Floor (MIF) is applied to the total maximum Universal Credit entitlement. Consequently, the issue of how it affects the housing element does not arise.

Children: Maintenance

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how her Department assesses child maintenance liabilities in cases where HMRC has not received updated PAYE or self-assessment records at the end of the financial year.

Justin Tomlinson: In the first instance the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will use HMRC data to assess liability. If this is not available, CMS sources information directly from the paying parent or their employer. CMS have powers to estimate income where the information provided is insufficient or atypical. This estimation will initially be based on the most recent HMRC information available or, depending on the circumstances of the case, the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (a sampled survey of employers taken by HMRC).

Armed Forces: Pensions

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to disregard income from an Armed Forces medical pension when calculating universal credit payments.

Alok Sharma: Income related benefits already partially disregard War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments for injuries and bereavement. With the introduction of Universal Credit, we have gone a step further and ensured that War Pensions and all Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments are fully disregarded in the assessment of income for Universal Credit.

Universal Credit: Easington

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 November 2018 to Question 190427, what information her Department collects on the number of home consultations carried out by the Centre for Health and Disabilities Assessment as part of its universal credit contract.

Sarah Newton: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Security Benefits: Epilepsy

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2018 to 178277, what support his Department provides to claimants suffering multiple epileptic seizures on a weekly basis to gain and sustain employment; and what guidance his Department provides to employers on ensuring that people with epilepsy are supported in the workplace.

Sarah Newton: We support disabled people, including those with epilepsy, to enter employment through initiatives like the Work and Health Programme and Personal Support Package. We also offer extensive, personalised support to new and existing disabled workers through Access to Work. In addition, we engage with employers through Disability Confident. The scheme, developed by disabled people, employers and disability organisations, encourages employers to think differently about disability and to take action to improve how they attract, recruit and retain disabled employees.

Universal Credit

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant the Answer of 14 September 2018 to Question 171353; how many universal credit claims were determined on the scrutiny of written information alone in each of the last five years.

Alok Sharma: The number of Universal Credit claims determined on the scrutiny of written information alone, known as a Work Capability Paper Based Assessment (PBA), is outlined in the table below: YearTotal PBAApril 2013 - March201417April 2014 – March 2015135April 2015 – March 2016503April 2016 – March 20171,743April 2017 – March 201810,222

Johnston Press: Pensions

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions,what the Pension Protection Fund has determined the value of Johnston Press pension deficit to be.

Guy Opperman: The Johnston Press Pension Plan is currently in the Pension Protection Fund’s (PPF) assessment period, where it will be assessed whether the scheme’s funding level is sufficient to secure pensions to its members at least equal to the level of compensation the PPF would pay. If the scheme’s funding is not sufficient, then it will transfer into the PPF and compensation will be paid at 100 per cent for individuals over their scheme’s retirement age at the date of the insolvency, and 90 per cent of the member’s accrued benefits, subject to an overall cap for everyone else. Benefits accrued post 1997 will be linked to PPF indexation going forward. There are around 5,000 pension scheme members who will be affected. The Pensions Regulator and the PPF are working together with the administrators to understand the circumstances surrounding the sale and its implications for the Johnston Press Pension Plan.

Health and Safety Executive: Vacancies

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Health and Safety Executive inspector posts are currently vacant; and what assessment she has made of the effect of those vacancies on the ability of the Health and Safety Executive to attend incidents.

Sarah Newton: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) currently has 29 regulatory inspector vacancies. HSE does not investigate all incidents reported to them, only the most serious work-related incidents are investigated. These include those which result in the death of a person and incidents which meet HSE’s incident selection criteria.http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/og/ogprocedures/investigation/incidselcrits.htm HSE is an arms-length body and the Chair has assured me that current resources are sufficient for HSE to respond to incidents that meet HSE’s incident selection criteria for investigation.

Industrial Health and Safety

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of incidents reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) were attended by an HSE inspector in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Sarah Newton: The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR 2013) require dutyholders to notify enforcing authorities of certain incidents. The total number of incidents reported to the HSE under RIDDOR for each of the last three years are: 2015/1653,3382016/1758,1702017/1851,703 The total number of HSE investigations of incidents reported under RIDDOR 2013 for each of the last three years are: 2015/162,9502016/172,3782017/182,221 HSE does not investigate all incidents reported to them, only the most serious work-related incidents are investigated. HSE’s Incident Selection Criteria (http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/og/ogprocedures/investigation/incidselcrits.htm) outlines the criteria for the selection of reported incidents which are investigated by HSE.

Access to Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people found eligible for support from Access to Work do not submit a claim for equipment or support after their award has been approved.

Sarah Newton: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Access to Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support is available to help people challenge employers who do not act on Access to Work recommendations in a timely manner.

Sarah Newton: Access to Work advisers provide advice and guidance to employers to assist in ensuring that they are able to procure and implement the required adjustments and understand what the consequences for the individual would be if they did not. This helps ensure there is a shared understanding of what is required. Access to Work does not intervene in disputes between an employee and employer should these occur, but an Access to Work assessment provides a good basis for discussion between the employee and their employer

Jobcentres: Glasgow

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to visit the Govan Job Centre in December 2018; and if she will make a statement.

Justin Tomlinson: The Secretary of State will be continue to engage with the Scottish Government as her predecessors have. The Secretary of State will be visiting various front-line services, including job centres, in the coming months. There are no visits planned to Scotland this December.

Food Banks: Glasgow South West

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to visit a food bank in the Glasgow South West constituency in December 2018; and if she will make a statement.

Justin Tomlinson: The Secretary of State will continue to engage with the Scottish Government as her predecessors have. The Secretary of State will be visiting various front-line services, including job centres, in the coming months. There are no visits planned to Scotland this December.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Industry

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what his assessment is of the potential cost to industry of Articles 40-125 of the draft Withdrawal Agreement.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government is undertaking a wide range of continuing analysis in support of our EU exit negotiations and preparations. We will ensure that Parliament is presented with appropriate analysis ahead of the vote on the final deal, and in Impact Assessments accompanying legislation, where appropriate.

Home Office

Police: Royal Commissions

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will establish a royal commission on the role and future funding of policing.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office has no plans to establish a Royal Commission into police funding. Such a Commission would be a substantial undertaking requiring significant time and resource.Instead, the Government is on the front foot in engaging with the police and we recognise the changing demands they are facing. The department supports forces to achieve their vision for policing through funding and work to improve forces' capabilities under five main strands: local policing; specialist capabilities; workforce; digital policing; and business enablers.

Police: Pensions

Sir Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the (a) additional cost to police forces in 2019-20 of employer contributions to the police pension scheme arising from the reduction in the public sector pension scheme discount rate confirmed in Budget 2018 and (b) additional grant to police forces to contribute towards those costs.

Mr Nick Hurd: We are assessing the implications of changes to the public service pensions discount rate change announced in Budget 2018 on all forces.The Budget made clear that part of these costs will be met from the Treasury Reserve in 2019/20. As the Chancellor set out in his speech, the Home Secretary will review police spending power ahead of the provisional police funding settlement for 2019/20 to be published next month.

Taxis: Fares

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of incidents of taxi fare evasion reported to police in each year since 2010.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office collects data on police recorded crime, which are published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The latest figures, for the year ending June 2018, can be accessed here:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtablesCrimes involving taxi fare evasion will be included within the category of making off without payment along with other incidents such as driving off from a petrol station without paying for fuel and leaving a restaurant without paying the bill. However, from information held centrally it is not possible to identify incidents of taxi fare evasion.

EU Nationals: Hate Crime

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of hate crime have been reported by European citizens living in the UK since the EU referendum 2016.

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the treatment of EU citizens living in the UK since the EU referendum 2016.

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he has taken to ensure the wellbeing and safety of EU citizens living in the UK since the EU referendum 2016.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office does not hold data on the citizenship of the victims of hate crime.The Government is committed to tackling all forms of hate crime, including that directed at EU citizens because of their nationality or race. The Hate Crime Action Plan refresh published in October 2018 sets out a comprehensive plan for doing so.

Immigrants: EU Nationals

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union on securing the rights of EU citizens in the UK during EU negotiations.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Secretary meets regularly with the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union to discuss a wide range of issues including the EU Settlement Scheme and citizens’ rights.

Forced Marriage

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2018 to Question 174014 on Force Marriage, if he will provide that same information by geographical location.

Victoria Atkins: The UK is a world leader in the fight to stamp out the brutal practice of forced marriage, with our joint Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) leading efforts to combat it both at home and abroad. We made forced marriage a criminal offence in 2014 to better protect victims and send a clear message that this abhorrent practice is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated in the UK. To date, there have been four convictions under the offence.Due to the small numbers of referrals, charges and convictions this information is not available by geographic location to prevent the risk of victims being identified. This is important as victims of Forced Marriage may have the protection of lifetime anonymity.

Forensic Science: Misconduct

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the 10,000 cases identified by the National Police Chiefs' Council as possibly being affected by manipulation at Randox Testing Services were discovered to have been manipulated following testing; and which category of offences those cases related to.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold this information. This case remains subject to ongoing police investigation.

National Economic Crime Centre

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how the National Economic Crime Centre is planned to help increase the number of prosecutions for crimes such as bribery and corruption.

Mr Ben Wallace: The National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) will deliver a step change in the UK's response to - and impact on economic crime, including bribery and corruption.For the first time, the NECC brings together enforcement and justice agencies (HM Revenue and Customs, the City of London Police, the National Crime Agency, the Serious Fraud Office and the Crown Prosecution Service), other government departments, regulatory bodies and the private sector with a shared objective of driving down economic crime in the UK.It will leverage the 'whole system' approach to enhance and coordinate our collective capabilities to target, pursue and dismantle the highest harm serious and organised criminals, including corrupt elites. Where appropriate this will include prosecutions.

Radicalism: Criminal Investigation

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of people investigated under Prevent for (a) Islamic extremism and (b) far-right extremism in each of the last five years.

Mr Ben Wallace: No investigations are carried out under the Prevent strand of CONTEST, the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy. Prevent exists instead to safeguard people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.Figures for those who have been referred to Prevent and subsequently supported under the Channel programme have been published by the Home Office and are available on the Gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/individuals-referred-to-and-supported-through-the-prevent-programme-april-2016-to-march-2017.

Passports

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passports were processed by each passport office in the UK in each year from 2013 to 2017.

Caroline Nokes: The table below shows the volume of passports printed, broken down by the Passport Customer Service Centre where the application was processed for the calendar years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017: LondonLiverpoolPeterboroughNewportGlasgowBelfastDurham2013221,5121,326,4511,357,49060,295116,509433,5302,093,7432014252,0571,386,2361,605,810146,637165,756628,5282,043,8432015241,0721,150,1241,858,555418,486284,263767,5982,042,8002016255,7761,306,5011,607,364502,253284,956750,9372,173,1402017249,7101,266,6731,662,714545,830392,498603,3072,029,037

Migration

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions he has had with the Prime Minister since 13 April 2016 on delivering the Government's policy to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands; and when those discussions took place.

Caroline Nokes: We remain committed to reducing net migration to sustainable levels.Net migration has fallen since peaks in 2015 and 2016 and we will continue to reform our immigration routes to ensure that they work in the best interests of the country.

Arts and Sports Competitors: Visas

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many creative and sporting tier 5 visa applications (a) were subject to an administrative review and (b) had the original decision overturned following an administrative review in each year from 2012 to 2017.

Caroline Nokes: The published information relates to total grants and refusals of entry clearance visas for Tier 5 creative and sporting, published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics, Visas volume 1, table vi_01_q, latest edition at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2018/list-of-tables#visas

Asylum: Human Trafficking

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the High Court Judgement K & Anor, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department of 8 November 2018, how the back payments to victims of trafficking will be made; who will be responsible for administering the back payments to victims who have left the National Referral Mechanism; whether the back payments will result in any deduction from any other benefits; and what financial literacy support will be put in place to help victims manage large payments.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is committed to tacking the scourge of modern slavery and supporting those affected by this crime.In 2017, Home Office Ministers agreed a comprehensive package of reforms to the National Referral Mechanism, which included the introduction of places of safety for those leaving situations of exploitation, trebling the period of move on support to assist victims moving out of government funded support and aligning the subsistence rates paid to potential victims of modern slavery with those received by asylum seekers.In light of the judgment in K and AM, the Home Office has immediately reinstated the top up paid to those in the Victim Care Contract who are also receiving support from the asylum support system, so that they receive a total of £65 per week.We are currently putting in place processes to ensure that those who have been affected receive a full back payment as soon as possible, and will set out how we plan to respond in due course, including our communications with all those affected. These back payments will not be deducted from the asylum support payments which individuals may be receiving.We are committed to reforming the National Referral Mechanism to ensure that as many victims of modern slavery as possible get the support they need.

Slavery: Victims

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish the timetable for the (a) drafting of and (b) public consultation on the statutory guidance on victim support as set out under Section 49 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Victoria Atkins: The Government recognises the importance of publishing guidance under s49 of the Modern Slavery Act on the identification of and support for potential victims of modern slavery.Whilst there is no duty to consult on the s49 statutory guidance we began working closely with stakeholders across the sector on drafting the guidance shortly after commencement of the Act. This work was paused to accommodate changes to identification and support as part of the reforms to the National Referral Mechanism. Work on the guidance has resumed and we will publish it as soon as we are able. We will issue a timetable providing the detail of this in due course.

Asylum: Human Trafficking

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the High Court judgment in respect of K & Anor, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department of 8 November 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the High Court judgment in respect of K & Anor, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department of 8 November 2018, when all victims of trafficking will have their subsistence rates restored to the higher level as required by that judgment.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is committed to tacking the scourge of modern slavery and supporting those affected by this crime.In 2017, Home Office Ministers agreed a comprehensive package of reforms to the National Referral Mechanism, which included the introduction of places of safety for those leaving situations of exploitation, trebling the period of move on support to assist victims moving out of government funded support and aligning the subsistence rates paid to potential victims of modern slavery with those received by asylum seekers.In light of the judgment in K and AM, the Home Office has immediately reinstated the top up paid to those in the Victim Care Contract who are also receiving support from the asylum support system, so that they receive a total of £65 per week. We are currently putting in place processes to ensure that those who have been affected receive a full back payment as soon as possible, and will set out how we plan to respond in due course, including our communications with all those affected.We will work through the implications of this judgment in respect to our future approach to financial support. We are committed to reforming the National Referral Mechanism to ensure that as many victims of modern slavery as possible get the support they need.

Slavery: Victims

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he will issue guidance under Section 49 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015; and what plans he has to consult on that guidance.

Victoria Atkins: The Government recognises the importance of publishing guidance under s49 of the Modern Slavery Act on the identification of and support for potential victims of modern slavery.Whilst there is no duty to consult on the s49 statutory guidance we began working closely with stakeholders across the sector on drafting the guidance shortly after commencement of the Act. This work was paused to accommodate changes to identification and support as part of the reforms to the National Referral Mechanism. Work on the guidance has resumed and we will publish it as soon as we are able. We will issue a timetable providing the detail of this in due course.

Post Offices: Biometrics

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has plans to replace the biometric service at Post Offices with the new UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service centres.

Caroline Nokes: Following full rollout of the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service Centres the majority of customers will no longer use the biometric service at the Post Office. The UK VCAS will provide the biometric service in 57 locations across the UK. Sopra Steria also provide a pop up mobile service for customers who may choose a more flexible service, extending the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services beyond the main 57 locations to, for example, university campuses and employers’ offices.In addition to UK VCAS, from January 2019, a new face-to-face application service for customers who require more support and face to face interaction with UKVI staff will open in 7 locations, these are the same locations as the previous Premium Service Centres which have been re-purposed and will be known as Service and Support Centres (SSC).

Home Office: Government Responses

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to answer Questions 190963 and 190959 tabled on 13 November 2018 by the hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton.

Caroline Nokes: The response for UIN 190959 was answered on the 21st November 2018 and UIN 190963 was answered on the 20th November 2018

EU Nationals: Health Services

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 191448, whether the immigration health surcharge will apply to EU citizens arriving in the UK during the transition period.

Caroline Nokes: The immigration health surcharge will not apply where EU citizens make immigration applications during the implementation period after the UK leaves the EU.

EU Nationals: Employment

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what right to work checks employers will have to carry out on EU citizens during the period between March 2019 and December 2020 in the event of the UK leaving the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal.

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what evidence of an EU citizen’s right to work will an employer be required to check during the period between March 2019 and December 2020 in the event of the UK leaving the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal.

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what right to work checks employers will be required to carry out on EU citizens in the event that the transition period is extended; and how employers will be able to distinguish between EU citizens who arrived (a) before the UK left the EU in March 2019, (b) during the originally planned transition period between March 2019 and December 2020 and (c) during the period that the transition is extended for after December 2020.

Caroline Nokes: Employers already need to carry out right to work checks on EU citizens, as they do with all prospective employees. Current arrangements, under which EU citizens can demonstrate their right to work in the UK by producing their national passport or identity card, will continue after the UK leaves the European Union and for the entire duration of any implementation period.

Anti-social Behaviour

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of whether local authorities have sufficient power to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Victoria Atkins: The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of flexible powers, to respond quickly and effectively to different forms of anti-social and nuisance behaviour. The Government refreshed its statutory guidance for frontline practitioners on the use of the powers in December 2017, providing greater clarity on how best to use the powers appropriately and proportionately.The Home Office keeps the sufficiency of the powers under review through a national Anti-social Behaviour Strategic Board which brings together a range of partners and representatives from key agencies.

Department of Health and Social Care

Suicide: LGBT People

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the suicide prevention strategy addresses the needs of LGBT people.

Jackie Doyle-Price: In July 2018, the Government Equalities Office published a report titled ‘Improving LGBT lives: Government action since 2010’ which is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-lgbt-lives-government-action-since-2010 That report made a commitment that the Government will take action to improve mental healthcare for LGBT people and, as part of this, the Department will work with the Government Equalities Office to implement elements of its LGBT Action Plan through the National Suicide Prevention Strategy. We will set this work out in a Cross-Government Suicide Prevention Workplan which will be published shortly.

Mental Health Services: LGBT People

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with (a) medical and nursing schools, (b) the Royal College of Psychiatrists, (c) the British Psychological Society and (d) mental health training providers to ensure that their (i) curricula, (ii) standards and (iii) compulsory and ongoing training include the mental health needs of LGBT people.

Stephen Hammond: It is the responsibility of the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, in setting the outcomes that medical and nursing students need to achieve through their training, to ensure it is reflective of the knowledge and experience needed to support and advise the patients they see. Health Education England (HEE) has responsibility for ensuring the NHS in England has the workforce it requires in the right numbers, in the right place and with the right skills. HEE, together with regulators and Royal Colleges, ensures undergraduate and post graduate curriculum meets the needs of all patients. HEE are also working with stakeholders to support the awareness raising of the mental health needs of the LGBT community. HEE’s competency frameworks, published on 10 October, on suicide recognised that the LGBT community are a high-risk group and there is need for specific suicide prevention interventions to be targeted at this group of people.

Parkinson's Disease: Mental Health Services

Martin Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people with Parkinson’s disease accessed Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services; what the average waiting time was for a person with Parkinson’s disease from referral to first appointment; and what the recovery rate was for people with Parkinson’s disease following completion of that treatment in 2016-17.

Jackie Doyle-Price: This information is not held centrally.

Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients: West Midlands

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act on the rate of detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983 in Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timescale is for his Department to respond to the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act.

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act on the rate of detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983 in the NHS Lewisham Clinical Commissioning Group area.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Independent Review of the Mental Health Act will report before the end of the year. The Government will consider its findings and respond in due course. The Review will make recommendations to Government for how it should improve the Act, including considering what changes might be needed to reduce the number of detentions under the Act, but the Review itself was not commissioned to have a direct influence on legislation or practice. We have therefore made no assessment on the effect of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act on the rate of detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983.

Health Services: Veterans

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 18 paragraph 4 of HM Government publication, The Strategy For Our Veterans, published in November 2018, what steps he is taking to ensure that all veterans enjoy a state of positive physical and mental health and wellbeing, enabling them to contribute to wider aspects of society; and what amount of funding he has allocated to the 2028 outcome.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Strategy for our Veterans and a Consultation Paper were published on 14 November and debated in Parliament on 15 November. The Consultation Paper seeks public views to inform how the Government will implement the strategy. Following conclusion of the consultation period in February 2019, implementation plans will be developed by each relevant service provider, along with individual costings which will fall across Government. Once implementation options have been agreed, the resource required to implement the Strategy for our veterans will be agreed between Ministerial Covenant and Veterans Board members, which includes the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Allied Healthcare

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on patient health and service provision in the event that Allied Healthcare cease operations.

Caroline Dinenage: The interruption of care services can affect the wellbeing of users and their loved ones. Local authorities have a statutory duty, under the Care Act 2014, to temporarily meet the needs of individuals when their care provider is no longer able to carry on. The Local Government Association has said that councils have robust contingency plans in place to ensure people are safeguarded during the Allied Healthcare sale. As joint Government and sector guidance makes clear, these contingency plans should include giving people as much time as possible to make informed choices and transition to any new services in an orderly and calm way. Cross-Government contingency plans have been enacted, and officials are working closely with Allied Healthcare, local authorities and clinical commissioning groups to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.

Cancer

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in light of the Government's commitment that three in four of all cancers be diagnosed at Stage I or II by 2028, what estimate he has made of the proportion of cancer diagnoses for which staging data is currently available; and whether this includes all cancer diagnoses including rare and less common cancers.

Steve Brine: In 2016 81.9% of cancers registered by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service had a complete stage at diagnosis recorded. This percentage includes all invasive cancers including rare and less common cancers, but excludes non-melanoma skin cancer. These data, along with data for other United Kingdom countries are published in the United Kingdom and Ireland Association of Cancer Registries (UKIACR). UKIACR Performance Indicators and can be viewed at the following link: http://www.ukiacr.org/kpis

Prostate Cancer

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of changes in the rate of prostate cancer detection since publication of the report of the Prostate Cancer Audit in November 2014.

Steve Brine: There has been no significant change in prostate cancer diagnosis rates between 2014 and 2016 (for which the latest data are available).

Local Authorities: Public Finance

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the November 2018 analysis by the County Councils Network entitled A Fair Future for Counties; and whether his Department has discussed that analysis with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Caroline Dinenage: Funding for social care beyond 2019-20 will be considered in the round at the Spending Review next year. The Department has not yet made any specific assessment of the County Councils Network’s analysis. However, we will work closely with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government to consider all available evidence as part of the Spending Review process. The Green Paper will put forward our proposals for reforming the social care system to make it more sustainable. The Government has given councils access to almost £10 billion more adult social care funding from 2017-18 to 2019-20 to address the immediate pressures councils are facing.

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the November 2018 report by Rethink entitled Right treatment, right time, whether he is taking steps to ensure that NHS England works with NHS Improvement and NHS Digital to develop the Mental Health Dashboard further to include operational data for people treated in secondary and community care under a mental health trust.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health Dashboard brings together key data from across mental health services to measure the performance of the National Health Service in delivering our plans as set out in the Mental Health Five Year Forward View. Indicators within the dashboard are intended to provide a high level overview of how the NHS is performing, alongside detail on how mental health services are funded and delivered. The content of the dashboard was recently reviewed to ensure that the measures within the dashboard are sufficiently robust to provide an accurate picture of mental health delivery across services and regions. NHS England is working with NHS Improvement and NHS Digital to improve operational data for people treated in secondary and community care and these measures will be included in the dashboard as soon as data quality demonstrates that it is appropriate to do so.

Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how he plans to spend the £4.5 billion announced on 23 July 2018 for social prescribing.

Caroline Dinenage: On 23 July 2018 the Department announced funding of £4.5 million for 23 social prescribing schemes across England. Social prescribing involves helping patients to improve their health, wellbeing and social welfare by connecting them to community services. Examples include befriending services, art classes and exercise classes, which might be run by the council or a local charity. This money is being used to either expand existing schemes or establish new ones. These schemes will aim to reduce health inequalities by building the evidence base around good practice in social prescribing, sharing lessons and widening adoption of practices that are proven to work. A summary of all 23 schemes can be found at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-prescribing-schemes-to-be-funded-by-the-health-and-wellbeing-fund-2018

Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the November 2018 report by Rethink entitled Right treatment, right time, whether he is taking steps to lower the average 14-week wait for assessment and 19-week wait for treatment for people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorder, eating disorders and other severe mental illnesses.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Right treatment, right time, by Rethink Mental Illness, highlights challenges in mental health services. The Government recognises that we need to go further in improving mental health services. Implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health contains specific steps for reducing waiting times for psychosis and eating disorders. By 2020/21, at least 60% of people with first episode psychosis should start treatment with a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence-recommended package of care, via a specialist Early Intervention in Psychosis service, within two weeks of referral. For eating disorders, we have targets for ensuring that 95% of children in need receive treatment within one week for urgent cases, and four weeks for routine cases. Figures published on the Five Year Forward View dashboard show that these targets have been met or are on track to be met by the end of 2020/21. The dashboard is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/mental-health-five-year-forward-view-dashboard/

Health Visitors: Resignations

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many health visitors (a) resigned and (b) otherwise left their posts in each of the last five years.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics for England. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), but not staff working in primary care or in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers. The following table shows the number of leavers from the health visitor staff group in England, partitioned into reasons for leaving of resignation and other reason for leaving, as at 31 July in each specified year from 2013, headcount:  2013-142014-152015-162016-172017-18All reasons for leaving1,4411,3312,0522,2031,672of which: Reason for leaving of resignation386461603694454Other reason for leaving485373837781588Unknowns570498614732633Source: NHS Digital, NHS HCHS workforce statistics As health visitors are employed by a range of organisations, including National Health Service trusts, CCGs, local authorities and private providers, current data collections do not cover the complete range of these organisations. Consequently, it is not possible to provide accurate data on the total number of leavers from the whole health visitor workforce.

Transport: Health Hazards

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the costs incurred by the NHS in treating conditions caused by air pollution arising from different forms of transport.

Steve Brine: The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care meets with the Secretary of State for Transport regularly to discuss a variety of Government issues.

Social Services: Fees and Charges

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance he has issued to local authorities on social care charges for vulnerable people receiving benefits; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will review the level of charges for social care payable by vulnerable people on benefits; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Dinenage: To help local authorities design reasonable and fair policies, the Department has issued the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 and statutory guidance in the Care and Support Statutory (CASS) Guidance. The CASS Guidance is issued under section 78 of the Care Act and local authorities must have regard to it. The Regulations and Guidance do not require local authorities to charge. They seek to ensure that, where local authorities do charge, this will be based on fairer, well-designed charging policies and ensure in particular that service users on low incomes are protected from charging and that any charges levied on disability benefits are subject to an assessment of disability costs, to ensure their reasonableness.

Incinerators: Health Hazards

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2018 to Question 164870 on Incinerators: Health Hazards, when those papers will be published.

Steve Brine: Public Health England funded the Small Area Health Statistics Unit, and King’s College London, to carry out a study to further extend the evidence base as to whether emissions from modern municipal waste incinerators affect human health. The first of a series of papers from this study was published on 22 November 2018. The paper ‘Fetal growth, stillbirth, infant mortality and other birth outcomes near UK municipal waste incinerators; retrospective population based cohort and case-control study’ is available to view at the following link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412018316398 The paper found no evidence of a link between exposure to particulate matter emitted from modern municipal waste incinerators as modelled from emissions data, or living close to modern municipal waste incinerators, and infant mortality, low birth weight, still birth or the other birth outcomes investigated.

Diabetes: Medical Equipment

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October to Question 180697, how many NHS patients have received a Freestyle Libre glucose monitoring system to date.

Steve Brine: This information is not held centrally.

Nurses: Training

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the abolition of student bursaries on the number of people applying to become nursing students.

Stephen Hammond: The latest Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) data from October 2018 shows that demand for nursing courses remains strong, with applications exceeding available places in 2018. The number of acceptances to nursing and midwifery courses in 2018 is consistent with earlier years, at approximately 22,000. Final UCAS data will be published in December 2018. The Department is working with relevant bodies across health and education to monitor the effects of the healthcare funding reforms. We have been working with Health Education England and the university sector to ensure students continued to apply for courses this year. In September 2018 Health Education England launched a campaign to improve the perception of nursing to encourage applications to relevant undergraduate courses for UCAS applications in 2019. The Department has also put in place significant interventions to boost the supply of nurses, ranging from training more nurses, offering new routes into the profession, enhancing reward packages to make nursing more attractive and improve retention, and encouraging those that have left to return to nursing.

Health Professions: Vacancies

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what statistics his Department holds of the number of vacancies for (a) nursing staff and (b) doctors in the NHS in England.

Stephen Hammond: Since April 2017, NHS Improvement has collected vacancy rates of medical and nursing staff from individual National Health Service providers and publish them as part of their Quarterly performance of the NHS provider sector report. The latest NHS Improvement estimate is that in England, there are 41,722 whole time equivalent nursing vacancies, of which approximately 80% are being filled by a combination of bank and agency staff, as at 30 June 2018. NHS Improvement also estimated that in England there are 11,576 whole time equivalent doctor vacancies, of which approximately 85% are being filled by a combination of bank and agency staff, as at 30 June 2018. However, the bank and agency staff are not purely covering the vacancy gap. The temporary staff will also be used to backfill for sickness, maternity and secondments. We are committed to ensuring nursing remains an attractive career so the NHS builds on the record number of nurses currently on wards. We have put in place several actions to increase nursing workforce supply, covering improving staff retention, return to practice, overseas recruitment, expanding nursing associates, improving sickness absence and review of language controls.

Cancer

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 190871 on Cancer, what the potential (a) advantages and (b) disadvantages are of implementing the national data guardian opt-out on the quality of the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey data.

Jackie Doyle-Price: As I stated in my previous response, we are giving careful consideration to the potential advantages and disadvantages of the application of the national data opt-out to the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey beyond 2018/19. A decision regarding the application of the national data opt-out to this survey and the Care Quality Commission National Patient Survey will be communicated shortly.

Ocrelizumab

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis who could potentially benefit from treatment with Ocrelizumab.

Steve Brine: The Department has made no such assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently developing technology appraisal guidance on the use of ocrelizumab for treating primary progressive multiple sclerosis. The final scope for the appraisal states that 10% of patients with multiple sclerosis have the primary progressive subtype. Ocrelizumab has a marketing authorisation in the United Kingdom “for the treatment of adult patients with early primary progressive multiple sclerosis in terms of disease duration and level of disability, and with imaging features characteristic of inflammatory activity”. Therefore because of the scope of the marketing authorisation, not every patient with primary progressive multiple sclerosis would be eligible for treatment with ocrelizumab as they must be in the early stages of the disease and have inflammatory activity on MRI.

Health Services: Private Sector

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information the Department of Health and Social Care hold on the number of NHS patients currently admitted to assessment and treatment units operated by the private sector.

Stephen Hammond: As at the end of October 2018, 155 patients were receiving in-patient treatment in assessment and treatment units operated by independent providers, this will include private providers.

Health Services: Private Sector

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost to NHS England of payments to private companies for the treatment of patients with (a) learning disabilities and (b) autism in in each year since 2010.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department does not hold the information requested prior to 2017/18. Total spending by National Health Service commissioners to private companies for the treatment of patients with learning disabilities and autism for 2017-18 is shown in the following table.  2017-18 £ millionLearning disabilities80.0Autism28.7Total learning disabilities and autism108.7

Hospitals: Discharges

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dowries have been paid by the NHS to local authorities for patients leaving hospital after five or more years in inpatient care at the point of discharge since 2016.

Caroline Dinenage: The data requested is not collected centrally.

Mental Health Services

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of community mental health teams between 1999 and 2009.

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of community mental health teams in each year since 2009.

Jackie Doyle-Price: This information is not held centrally.

Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office: Public Appointments

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Chief Data Officer job in his Department has been filled; and if he will make a statement.

Oliver Dowden: No. There is close co-operation between DCMS, GDS and ONS on data policy and governance, while strategic oversight for the collection and use of data held by government departments is currently provided by the cross-government Data Advisory Board, chaired by the Chief Executive of the Civil Service.

Civil Service: Secondment

Darren Jones: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people from the private sector are seconded to work in the civil service in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Oliver Dowden: This data is not held centrally.

Absent Voting

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen the integrity of the postal voting system.

Chloe Smith: The British public deserves to have confidence in our democracy and the Government is committed to ensuring that our electoral system is fit for the future.Next year, Peterborough and Pendle will be piloting measures to improve the integrity of the postal and proxy vote process. This builds on similar pilots in 2018.In addition, the Government is looking to introduce measures which will prohibit party campaigners from handling postal votes, and apply a limit to the number of postal ballots that any one individual can hand in at a polling station. The provisions will be backed up by a new offence, and will make a significant contribution to enhancing the security of postal voting. There is currently a Government supported Private Members’ Bill in the House of Commons looking to introduce this policy.The Government is considering the way forward on the other recommendations made by Sir Eric Pickles, a number of which relate to absent voting, and will continue to consider how to improve the integrity of electoral processes more generally.The Government is committed to strengthening our electoral processes and enhancing public confidence in the rigour of those democratic processes.

Elections: Subversion

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department's consultation entitled Protecting the Debate: Intimidating, Influence and Information sought views on protecting the UK electoral system from overseas interference.

Chloe Smith: The first duty of Government is to safeguard the nation, and we take the security and integrity of our democratic processes very seriously.The Government’s consultation Protecting the Debate: Intimidation, Influence and Information sought views on a proposed new electoral offence of intimidating a candidate or campaigner, clarifying the offence of undue influence and whether the requirement for imprints should be extended to electronic material. The consultation did not seek views on protecting the UK electoral system from overseas interference specifically.The Cabinet Office co-ordinates cross-Government work to protect our democracy and to ensure the public’s confidence in our elections.

Elections: Subversion

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when his Department plans to respond to the consultation on Protecting the Debate: Intimidating, Influence and Information, which closed on 28 October 2018.

Chloe Smith: The consultation Protecting the Debate: Intimidation, Influence and Information closed on 28 October 2018. We are currently reviewing the responses. We will issue a response in the new year.

Civil Service: Electronic Government

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress his Department has made in improving the efficiency of the civil service as part of the Government Transformation Strategy 2017 to 2020.

Oliver Dowden: The Government Transformation Strategy set out to embed good use of shared platforms and reusable business capabilities to speed up transformation and drive efficiency by avoiding costly and confusing duplication in government services. Such common components, created by the Government Digital Service, are now used by more than 400 services across more than 100 public sector organisations. GDS has also equipped civil servants with the right infrastructure in order to do their jobs effectively, rolling out GovWifi to public sector buildings allowing civil servants to roam freely. Over 234,000 people have signed up for an account. Through central levers such as the Digital Service Standard, Service Assessments and Spend Controls processes, GDS has supported fundamental improvements in the way government designs and delivers digital services and IT investments. Through these processes GDS estimates to have enabled departments to realise over £1bn of benefits since March 2015.

Economic Growth

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential of the Places for Growth Programme as a boost for local economic growth.

Oliver Dowden: The Places for Growth Programme, within Cabinet Office, seeks to deliver the Government’s commitment to move Civil Service roles and public bodies out of London and the South East of England. This commitment was set out in the Conservative Party Manifesto of 2017 and then restated in the Industrial Strategy White Paper and the Government Estates Strategy (July 2018). The Cabinet Office is supporting departments and public bodies to identify opportunities to relocate roles to cities across the regions and nations of the United Kingdom. The Programme will provide support and coordination across Whitehall to move roles and organisations to locations that have the skills and capacity to enable organisations and cities to flourish. The Programme is also engaging with city leaders across the UK to understand the local economic and industrial priorities which will inform the decision-making process. The relocation of Civil Service roles will help to ensure that the administration of central government is better distributed across the whole of the UK. It also will make a contribution to the boosting of growth in each destination location and assist in providing sustainable career paths for civil servants outside London.

Cabinet Office: Conditions of Employment

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how the Office of Government Property is working to ensure that any relocations of roles and functions are made on the basis of robust analysis and strategic planning.

Oliver Dowden: The Places for Growth Programme, within Cabinet Office, seeks to deliver the Government’s commitment to move Civil Service roles and public bodies out of London and the South East of England. This commitment was set out in the Conservative Party Manifesto of 2017 and then restated in the Industrial Strategy White Paper and the Government Estates Strategy (July 2018). The Cabinet Office is supporting departments and public bodies to identify opportunities to relocate roles to cities across the regions and nations of the United Kingdom. The Programme will provide support and coordination across Whitehall to move roles and organisations to locations that have the skills and capacity for cities and organisations to flourish. The Programme is also engaging with city leaders across the UK to understand the local economic and industrial priorities which will inform the decision-making process.

Loneliness

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to tackle loneliness and isolation through the GovTech innovation fund.

Oliver Dowden: One of the GovTech public sector challenges, submitted by Monmouthshire County Council and selected for funding in the first round, is tackling loneliness and rural isolation. Monmouthshire County Council aims to develop digital innovations that could better connect isolated people and support local transport.  Currently, the challenge is in the first phase with five technology firms funded to explore the technical and commercial feasibility of their respective projects. The best ideas could go on to share up to £1 million to develop them further.

GCHQ and National Cyber Security Centre

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, at what level and how often does his Department review advisory guidance issued by NCSC and GCHQ.

Mr David Lidington: The National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ, is the UK’s National Technical Authority on cyber security and therefore the authoritative source of advice.The National Cyber Security Centre works in collaboration with a range of government departments, including the Cabinet Office, and other organisations to deliver advice, and review that advice as necessary with the aim of making the UK one of the safest places in the world to live and do business online.

ZTE Corporation

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) news story entitled ZTE: NCSC advice to select telecommunications operators with national security concerns, published on 16 April 2018, whether he authorised the NCSC's letter on ZTE dated 13 April 2018.

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) news story entitled ZTE: NCSC advice to select telecommunications operators with national security concerns, published on 16 April 2018, what his Department's assessment of the reasons NCSC stated in its letter of 13 April 2018 that there was no way to mitigate potential risk from using ZTE technology is.

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) news story entitled ZTE: NCSC advice to select telecommunications operators with national security concerns, published on 16 April 2018, if his Department conducted an urgent review of NCSC's advice in its letter of 13 April 2018.

Mr David Lidington: The National Cyber Security Centre, as the UK’s National Technical Authority for cyber security, is operationally independent from the Cabinet Office. Therefore, the Minister for the Cabinet Office does not need to authorise or review the National Cyber Security Centre’s technical advice, including that on ZTE. Government and the telecoms industry take cyber security risks very seriously. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with support from the NCSC and Ofcom, is leading a review into the security and resilience of our telecoms supply chain.

Blood: Contamination

Lady Hermon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in Northern Ireland affected by the contaminated blood scandal; and if he will make a statement.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, in what locations in Northern Ireland will hearings in the contaminated blood inquiry take place; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Lidington: The Infected Blood Inquiry's terms of reference require the Inquiry to ascertain, as far as practicable, the likely numbers of people who have been infected (directly or indirectly) in consequence of the use of infected blood and the use of infected blood products. The Inquiry has held four well-attended meetings in Northern Ireland so far with people infected and affected, including meetings in Belfast on 30 July and 20 November. It is planning to hold further meetings elsewhere in Northern Ireland, and I have offered my support to the enquiry for this plan.

Crime

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate the Government has made of the number of crimes which go unreported.

Chloe Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA response 
(PDF Document, 70.91 KB)

Treasury

A303 and Lower Thames Crossing: Private Finance Initiative

Stella Creasy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2018 to Question 185590 on A303 and Lower Thames Crossing: Private Finance Initiative, whether private finance will be used for the upgrade of the A303 and the Lower Thames Crossing.

Elizabeth Truss: The government is committed to increasing private investment in infrastructure through a range of models. The 2017 National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline estimates that almost half of the UK’s £600 billion infrastructure pipeline is expected to be financed by the private sector. The Budget announced that the government will no longer use Private Finance 2 (the successor to the Private Finance Initiative) for new projects, as the model was inflexible and overly complex. Private finance will not be used for the upgrade of the A303 and the Lower Thames Crossing.

Treasury: Energy

Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the quantity was of (a) electricity and (b) natural gas used by (i) HMRC, (ii) the Valuations Office Agency and (iii) the Bank of England in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Mel Stride: The quantities of electricity and natural gas used by HMRC, the Valuations Office Agency and the Bank of England during 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 are shown in the table below.  Department2015-162016-172017-18HMRCElectricity (kWh)131,609,522121,652,717118,800,248Gas (kWh)127,762,062120,395,843116,023,372VOAElectricity (kWh)1,889,3402,615,6202,152,840 Gas (kWh)1,667,9221,339,4051,172,962Bank of EnglandElectricity (kWh)34,912,70437,030,73835,511,277Gas (kWh)17,068,77315,366,60818,467,814

Natural England: Finance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent (a) assessments and (b) reports have been produced by UK Government Investments on the financial management of Natural England; and if he will place a copy of those documents in the Library.

Robert Jenrick: UK Government Investments have been asked to carry out an internal governance review of Natural England. The findings of this review are currently being discussed with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Natural England.

Taxation: Electronic Government

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to increase public awareness on the option to pay voluntary tax payments to HMRC.

Robert Jenrick: There is no formal mechanism for members of the public to make additional voluntary tax payments. Any payments made directly to HM Treasury are treated as gifts to the Crown and are surrendered to the Consolidated Fund. Payments can also be made by the public to reduce the National Debt by making a payment to the Commissioners for the Reduction of National Debt.

Wines: Excise Duties

Steve McCabe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 September to Question 172413 on Public Houses: Non-domestic Rates, what evaluation has been made of the effect of increasing the duty on wine on (a) pubs and (b) the wine industry.

Robert Jenrick: When considering changes in alcohol duty rates, the Government models changes in consumption driven by those duty-changes, but it does not explicitly model other effects on pubs and the wine industry. The Treasury takes all issues into account when setting alcohol duty rates. At Budget 2018, we froze duty on beer, cider and spirits. Pubs, and other businesses, with a rateable value below £51,000 will also benefit from the business rates discount announced.

Veterans

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 18 paragraph 3 of HM Government publication, The Strategy For Our Veterans, published in November 2018, what steps he is taking to ensure that veterans leave the armed forces with sufficient financial education, awareness and skills to be financially self-supporting and resilient; and what amount of funding he has allocated to the 2028 outcome.

Elizabeth Truss: The Strategy for our Veterans and a Consultation Paper were published on 14 November and debated in both Houses on 15 November. The Consultation Paper seeks public views to inform how the Government will implement the strategy. Following conclusion of the consultation period in February 2019, implementation plans will be developed by each relevant service provider, along with individual costings which will fall across Government. Once implementation options have been agreed, the resource required to implement the Strategy for our Veterans will be agreed between Ministerial Covenant and Veterans Board members, which includes the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

National Insurance Credits

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2018 to Question 179286, whether the Government plans to make back payments of child benefit to those parents who have mistakenly omitted to claim that benefit and as a result lost out on national insurance state pension credits.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government has always urged families to claim Child Benefit to help protect their future right to the State Pension. The legislation sets out that claims for Child Benefit (and the accompanying National Insurance credit) can only be backdated for three months. Successive governments have considered that three months is a fair and reasonable time in which to allow those wishing to claim Child Benefit to do so. Even though there may be no question that some parents would have been entitled to Child Benefit had they claimed earlier, such certainty is not obvious in every case. The longer the delay, the harder it is to establish entitlement, given the need to verify evidence and ensure consistent treatment.

Charitable Donations: Tax Allowances

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance his Department publishes on (a) payroll giving and (b) gift aid to help taxpayers understand the differences between those tax reliefs.

Robert Jenrick: The guidance on the differences between the Payroll Giving and Gift Aid tax reliefs is available at www.gov.uk/donating-to-charity. This also sets out what taxpayers need to do in order to access the schemes and the amount of tax relief available.

Religious Buildings: VAT

Graham P Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 190861 on Religious Buildings: VAT, whether his Department has plans to remove VAT on the repair and maintenance of places of worship after the UK leaves the EU.

Mel Stride: The UK will leave the EU at the end of March next year. The UK and EU negotiating teams have already reached agreement on the terms of an implementation period that will start on 30 March 2019 and last until 31 December 2020. During the implementation period, the UK will no longer be a Member State of the European Union, but market access will continue on current terms. We therefore will not remove VAT on repair and maintenance of places of worship during the implementation period.

Gold and Foreign Exchange Reserves: Venezuela

Graham P Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Governor of the Bank of England on the Venezuelan Government's request to withdraw their deposited gold from its reserves.

John Glen: The Chancellor has not had a discussion with the Governor regarding the Venezuelan government’s request to withdraw gold deposits from the Bank of England.

Taxpayers: Scotland

Chris Stephens: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many basic rate taxpayers in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland have contacted HM Revenue and Customs to register their residence in Scotland in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Mel Stride: HMRC has robust systems in place to identify Scottish taxpayers and ensure that they pay tax at the correct Scottish rates. Where a customer reports a change in address it is recorded on HMRC systems and, where it involves a move from the rest of the UK to Scotland, or vice versa, which changes their taxpayer status HMRC update their tax code accordingly. Whether someone is a Scottish taxpayer is defined in legislation and is normally determined by where they have their only or main residence.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Energy

Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the cost was of the (a) electricity and (b) natural gas used by (i) his Department, (ii) the National Archives, (iii) the Royal Parks, (iv) the British Library, (v) the Imperial War Museum, (vi) the Information Commissioner's Office, (vii) the National Gallery, (viii) the National Portrait Gallery, (ix) the Natural History Museum, (x) the Royal Armouries Museum, (xi) Sport England, (xii) the Victoria and Albert Museum and (xiii) Ofcom in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much (a) electricity and (b) natural gas was used by (i) his Department, (ii) the National Archives, (iii) the Royal Parks, (iv) the British Library, (v) the Imperial War Museum, (vi) the Information Commissioner's Office, (vii) the National Gallery, (viii) the National Portrait Gallery, (ix) the Natural History Museum, (x) the Royal Armouries Museum, (xi) Sport England, (xii) the Victoria and Albert Museum and (xiii) OFCOM in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Margot James: DCMS figures for electricity usage and cost as below: YearUse in kWCost £17/18846,325.00112,078.0016/17930,091.00174,528.4515/16855,585.00115,000.00 The Department does not use natural gas. The National Archives ElectricityGasYearUse in kWCost £YearUse in kWCost £17/185,536,908.00659,099.0017/183,165,066.0093,853.0016/175,629,756.00660,548.0016/173,052,034.0099,445.0015/165,853,391.00691,449.0015/163,198,213.0099,082.00  Royal Armouries ElectricityGas Cost £Cost £17/18229,18570,52816/17242,03269,45615/16229,844 79,459 Sport England ElectricityGas Cost £Cost £17/1818,0954,06816/1718,3053,49015/1618,3384,114 The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) only record a combined figure: YearCost £17/18174,068.8616/17102,669.7815/16106,285.45 Figures for Ofcom, the Royal Parks and all sponsored museums are available in their annual report and accounts. This includes a comprehensive breakdown of energy consumption and expenditure. The annual reports can be found on www.gov.uk

Football Association Premier League: Redundancy Pay

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has made representations to the Premier League on the £5 million bonus being paid to its outgoing executive chairman Richard Scudamore; and if he will make a statement.

Mims Davies: 'This is an internal matter for the Premier League. While the Premier League already invests £100million per year in grassroots football, we will be keen to ensure that they - and football more broadly - uses the opportunity it has to invest in and support the grassroots and the sport as a whole as much as possible, and this is something that I will be raising when I meet the Premier League and other football stakeholders over the coming weeks

Data Protection

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on data regulations in the UK.

Margot James: The UK is a global leader in strong data protection standards and protecting the privacy of individuals will continue to be a priority for the UK after we leave the EU. The EU Withdrawal Act retains the General Data Protection Regulation in UK law. It also allows the government to make technical corrections to it via regulations so that it continues to be operable when the UK is no longer an EU Member State. The Data Protection Act 2018 will continue to sit alongside the retained GDPR to ensure we have a complete data protection framework.

Museums and Galleries

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 November 2018 to Question 190375, on museums and galleries to which bodies those figures refer.

Michael Ellis: The bodies in relation to the PQ 19037 are: British Museum, Geffrye Museum, Horniman Museum, Imperial War Museum, The National Gallery, Natural History Museum, National Museums Liverpool, National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Armouries, Royal Museums Greenwich, Science Museum Group, Tate, V&A Museum and the Wallace Collection.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Public Bodies

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 November to Question 190379, what proportion of people on the boards of which (a) broadcasters and (b) galleries sponsored by his Department are (i) BAME and (ii) female.

Michael Ellis: The proportion of women on the boards of broadcasters (S4C and the BBC) is 33% and 6% for BAME. The fifteen (15) museums and galleries which DCMS sponsors (listed in the answer to PQ 193412) include the Tate, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery that are specifically classed as ‘galleries’. The proportion of women on these boards is 37% and 8% for BAME.

House of Commons Commission

House of Commons: Recruitment

John Spellar: To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, how much has been spent on (a) headhunters and (b) recruitment agencies in the last 12 months.

Tom Brake: Over the last twelve months, headhunters have been engaged to recruit to 11 senior roles in the House of Commons Service, including five external posts on the Restoration and Renewal Shadow Sponsor Board, at a total cost of £176,975.In addition, the House of Commons has paid £303,860 to recruitment agencies during the same period.

Bullying and Harassment of House of Commons Staff Independent Inquiry

Justin Madders: To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the oral contribution of 05 November 2018, Official Report column 1281, how many individuals with complaints prior to July 2017 have come forward.

Tom Brake: The House of Commons Commission has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

House of Commons: Freedom of Expression

Justin Madders: To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many certificates of exemption have been issued pursuant to section 34 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in each of the last 10 years for which records are available.

Tom Brake: The following certificates of exemption have been issued pursuant to section 34 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in each of the last 10 years:2018 (to 19 Nov) – 12017 – 32016 – 22015 – 22014 – 12013 – 02012 – 02011 – 02010 – 22009 – 3

Women and Equalities

Gay Conversion Therapy

Sarah Champion: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what the proposed timetable is for bringing forward legislative proposals to ban gay conversion therapy.

Victoria Atkins: Conversion therapy is wrong. We are determined to bring an end to this abhorrent practice and, as we said in the LGBT Action Plan, we are considering all legislative and non-legislative options to do this. We recognise this is a complex issue that we need to get right. We want to engage widely, and listen carefully, so that we can develop a range of measures that end these practices for good. We are conducting more detailed research into the experiences of those that have undergone conversion therapy, and will task the LGBT Advisory Panel with looking into this issue as their first priority when they meet for the first time, in the new year. Ending these practices will take time. It is crucial we get our response right so that we protect people from harm.